Education in an Wireless Environment and Beyond

Pathways embodies Howard Gardner’s pioneering learning model called multiple pathways to learning, that Pathways world school incorporates to ensure that every student’s talents are developed to the full. Designed for anywhere-anytime learning, Pathways envisions a learning community of motivated students and staff engaged in active learning through the best use of modern technology. Based at the outskirts of Delhi, the school is well equipped with the 21st Century educational technologies. Pathways sees each of its secondary school students to carry a laptop round the clock, providing them with a twenty four hour monitored access to Internet.
To effectively meet the challenges of the 21st Century, Pathways world school equips itself with the latest ICTs with all Secondary School students have access to laptops, that is linked by campus-wide radio-networking. Pathways picked up the concept of a ‘notebook cart’ that has 10-30 wireless notebooks moving to the classrooms. The use of hard-wired or desktop computers has been reduced to the minimum and the school server maintains a broadband connection throughout the round the clock and 365 days of the year, giving each student continuous but monitored access via the school’s intranet to the resources of the Internet. This restricted access to Internet resources is to put check on students downloading materials that has least importance to education.

The concerns of parents regarding their children’s progress are also well taken care of. The school is shortly going to computerise the reporting system, enabling the parents to track their children’s progress on the Internet.

Technology for anytime, anywhere learning
Pathways profoundly believes that learning should not be time bound. As such, at Pathways all the students can have the monitored access of information via the school’s intranet to the resources of the Internet even when out of class hours.

With the universal access to IT and other technological support, students can learn ‘Anywhere-Anytime’. This means that they can refer any doubts and questions to the teacher share them with other students. Thus resulting in a learning community, where students and teachers can share and collaborate to benefit from each other.

At Pathways ICTs and other related technologies have crucial place to thrust the acquisition of information and education. The Science laboratories, for instance, are specially equipped for computer simulation of dangerous experiments. Numerous relevant ICT tools are available and relied on to efficiently impart learning. This is complemented with the access to a Design Technology Studio, in which each student can work on their individual projects with external experts’ support.

Library and Media Centre at PathwaysThe Library-Media Centre at Pathways has a Distance-Learning Studio for access to quality teaching and learning materials from various prestigious universities both from India and the UK. In addition, Pathways is developing an extensive CD Rom library and there are Reprographics Centres in each academic building that will be open even in the evenings.

Learning Style and Methodology
In sync with this philosophy that a variety of learning methodologies need to be incorporated according to the suitability in various circumstances, Pathways implements a variety of teaching models like ‘Student Centred Learning’, ‘Multiple Intelligences Theory’, and ‘Project Based Learning’ to equip the students for the 21st Century.

This international K-12 school in India, partnered with IBM Global Services – Integrated Technology Services and provides a sophisticated IT network that would support the school’s goal of nurturing “multiple intelligences” and prepare its students for top-tier universities.

The school offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme up to Class X and the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme for the Class XI and XII students. The IB degree is a gateway for the Indian students to the best universities in the world. The students equipped with this degree need not clear the foundation course to enter a foreign university.

IBM Global Services – Integrated Technology Services

Pathways partnered with IBM Global Services – Integrated Technology Services to install landline and mobile access networks using Cisco switches. Then IBM designed the landline and mobile-access networks to support the school’s existing user demand and
provide network scalability. IBM installed Cisco 3750 switches to support classroom Internet access and used Cisco 1200 Series switches running the Cisco Aironet solution to provide wireless computer access to students across the school’s campus.

IBM provided supply, integration and support services for the solution. The IBM Integrated Technology Services team also helped the school migrate its existing network to the new scalable network infrastructure and extend the network to a new building. Pathways students now have seamless Internet access across their campus. The students benefit from the wide open campus and use the wireless network to increase their learning potential.

Pathways deems that technology is only a means to an end and therefore assists its students to equip themselves with such talents that enables them to fulfill their fullest potentials in social, intellectual, academic, sporting or cultural, to inculcate a feeling in them that every one of them is good at one thing or the other.

MONDIALOGO DAY Celebrated at Springdales School, Pusa Road
10th October 2007, students of Springdales School Pusa Road celebrated a “Mondialogo Day” as a part of Mondialogo School Contest. The school tried to showcase integration of technology through film making skills, with a social cause. The contest, initiated by Daimler Chrysler and UNESCO in 2003 is one of world’s largest global contest on international dialogue. Simmi Kher, the IT Coordinator along with her team coordinated the event. The photo showss the Winning Team Blue Bells School with the trophy.

Most creative school

team from SMK USJ 12 beat 58 others from three schools to emerge winner of the TM eSchool LCMS Content Creation Competition recently.

Led by teacher Shirley Tan, the team received RM3,000, a plaque and certificates of participation. The other two schools which took part were SMK Seksyen 11, Shah Alam and Methodist Boys’ School, Kuala Lumpur (MBSKL). The second and third prizes were won by teams from MBSKL who won RM2,000 and RM1,000 respectively.

The objective of the competition was to increase the usage of the LCMS application by exposing students and teachers to the advantages of using this e-Learning tool. LCMS was introduced through the TM eSchool project, which was launched in April. To take part, the groups were required to create e-Learning content based on any subject of their choice from the school syllabus using LCMS. The theme of the competition was 50th Merdeka celebrations.

School heads meet to improve education

Nearly 70 heads of schools from across the Asia-Pacific region came together recently to discuss innovations in education. Hosted by the Global Indian Foundation (GIF), the two-day conference marked the fifth foundation day of the Global Indian International Schools (GIIS).

Ashok Ganguly, chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), G Balasubramanium, former director (academics), CBSE, and C S Dharmadhikari, vice-president, GIF, were among the Indian delegates present for the meet. During his address, Ganguly stressed on making CBSE-affiliated schools global in their outlook and upgrade their curriculum to international standards.

Principals from Thailand, Middle East, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and India also shared their experience in school education.

About Us

The digitalLEARNING is Asia and Middle East’s premier monthly magazine on innovations in education, focussing on Information & Communication Technology’s (ICT) role in it. Published since 2005 in print and online formats, the monthly magazine raises awareness about how ICT is enhancing the scope and quality of education. Over the years, the Magazine has earned an unmatchable recognition for itself, offering a 360 degree perspective of the education landscape while touching almost all segments and industry stakeholders.